I'm sorry to hear this.
Please don’t separate them. There is no benefit in doing so (actually it can be detrimental to separate) as it doesn’t allow you gauge any useful information from poop output.
Please put them back together straight away - you will need to put them on neutral territory to reintroduce if they’ve been apart for more than a few hours.
The reason separating doesn’t give you useful information is because poop today is from food intake 1-2 days ago and is therefore out of date information.
So, by the time you see less poop from a poorly piggy ‘today’ they already haven’t eaten enough for up to the past 2 days and by then you’ve missed your chance to step in with the essential early interventions and they could be in stasis by that point.
Separating also causes a lot of stress which can lower the immune system and make it harder for them to recover from any illness.
Separating also has the potential to break their bond and cause them to refuse to go back together. This is why you must put them back together straight away.
Medical separations are not recommended.
What you need to do is (keep them together) switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh him each morning. That gives you real time information on his hay intake and then if there is any weight loss, then you can step in with syringe feeding immediately. It’s that early intervention which can really help.
I’ve added a variety of useful guides below to help you.
I hope he is ok and you can get him to the vet
1 Weight and Weight Loss
- Why regular weight monitoring matters
- How weight changes over a lifetime
- How to weigh on your kitchen scales (with video)
- The weight loss rules
- How critical is the weight loss for my piggy?
- Possible causes for weight loss
2 Body Mass Index (BMI) or 'Heft'
- Why is understanding your piggy's weight so important?
- 'Average' weight vs. individual weight - the big trip up
- How to check for the BMI...
Introduction
1 Choosing the right place to medicate/feed your piggy
2 Guinea pig whispering and asserting your authority
3 Recovery products and emergency improvisation
4 Syringe recommendations
5 Weight monitoring: your biggest ally
6 Weight loss guidelines and when to step in with feeding
7 Syringe feeding amounts/frequency advice
8 Practical medication and syringing tips (incl. missed a dose)
9 Medicating and feeding cooperative guinea pigs (videos)
10 Medicating and feeding uncooperative guinea pigs (hold pictures and tips)
11 The line between...
1 Statement
2 Emergency assessment and accessing vets
- How urgent is my guinea pig's problem?
- Finding an emergency vet
- Seeing a vet not familiar with guinea pigs (including lists of safe and dangerous medications)
3 First Aid care and easily available products
- General 'always have at home' stuff and comfort measures for very ill guinea pigs
- Improvising support feed; recovery formulas...
1 Feed
- Important crisis management resources
- When is improvising necessary?
- Which food group am I replacing with my feeding support?
- How much and how often should I feed and water?
- What can I use that I have already got at home?
- Other possible easily available foods with their pros and cons
- How do I prep a syringe for rougher pellet fibre?
- What can I do without a syringe?
- The role of lukewarm water
2 Probiotics
- Probiotic products...
1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
3 Acute bloat (severe dysbiosis) - blockage - twisted gut - persistent milder bloating
4 GI stasis (no gut movement)
Severe runny diarrhea, bloat, blockage or a twisted gut, GI stasis and excessive salivating in guinea pigs that are not eating are absolute life and death emergencies that need to be seen ASAP by an out-of-hours vet at any time of the day or night or that should be seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment outside the UK...
